Puberty Can Be The Worst, But This Box Makes It Easier For Girls Everywhere

"Creating a new generation of thriving, confident, informed young women who are eager to become the very best version of themselves."

We all go through that very awkward phase in life where our bodies start to betray us — puberty. Acne is an every day occurrence, hormones go haywire, and hair starts to grow in places we didn't know we had. But for girls, things can get especially difficult when they get their first period.

To make things a little easier, sisters Taran and Bunny Ghatrora founded Blume, a company that provides "safe, sustainable period products for women and girls who believe in the power of their choices."

The subscription-based service allows customers to select the products that go into their Blume box, and how often they'll receive a box delivery. Products include tampons and pads made from 100 percent organic cotton, blemish treatment, deodorant, face wash, and PMS roll-on essential oil, which helps fight cramps, balance hormones, and calm symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome.

"Blume comes from the word bloom — a healthy, flourishing condition. To 'Blume' is to grow," Taran and Bunny tell A Plus. "This is what we’re all about — creating a new generation of thriving, confident, informed young women who are eager to become the very best version of themselves."

"When it comes to why puberty for girls has been ignored by so many industries, it comes down to a combination of poor education and shame," Taran and Bunny say. "Essentially, the responsibility to educate is shirked by everyone, which means that the work never ends up getting done. This makes those going through puberty feel ashamed of their own experience and unwilling to ask for help, compounding the isolation."

In an effort to educate more people about puberty, Blume worked with a counselor, sexual health administrator, and an artist to create a "first period guide" filled with medically accurate, relevant and useful information, educational diagrams, and mindfulness exercises.

"We asked tweens and parents themselves for feedback as we were creating the guide to make certain it included information they needed and wanted. The guide is meant to open up the conversation at home between parents and their kids, which isn't happening right now."

The brand also aims to make this conversation more global and donates some of its proceeds to Days For Girls, an organization with a mission to increase access to menstrual care and education for women and girls throughout the world and create "a world with dignity, health, and opportunity for all."

Providing more education and normalizing the things that happen during puberty is so important given that so many girls and women feel their self-esteem dip during this time. A study conducted by Blume surveyed 1,000 girls and women to learn about their experiences with periods and puberty, and found that 60 percent "felt that their self-esteem plummeted around puberty."

"The fact that we can pinpoint the exact time girls are feeling their confidence drop is astounding — especially since these consequences are wholly preventable," they say.

"Feeling beautiful is feeling confident in who you are, and while we can't change the tumultuous nature of adolescence in its entirety, we can take away one exceptionally painful element of it. Puberty is a time where girls feel much more conscious of their appearance, and if the existence of Blume can ease the anxiety around this time, we think we can set a new precedent for how women begin their relationships with their bodies."

"We want [girls] to believe that they have the power and resources to live their best life, in all ways." Taran and Bunny add that parents have told them that their daughters' Blume subscriptions have prompted dialogue between parent and child that hadn't occurred before.

"We've literally had parents say that 'this is the first time she's talking about her period with pride,'" Taran and Bunny say. "When people have high self-esteem, they make better decisions. They feel valuable and important and in turn demand more respect and take better care of themselves."